Heartless? Have At You!
by BennyBirdBoy
Summary: The story told by KH2 fanatics who try to do something constructive whilst awaiting the game...and their next therapy appointment. But seriously written. No sillyness.
1. A New Acquaintance…or Two

_**Chapter One:**_

**_A new acquaintance…or two_**.

Sora, Goofy and Donald felt there insides begin to tear as they chased further and further after Pluto. It really wasn't a fair run; Pluto had two extra legs...

"When...is...he...going...to- slow- DOWN!" Sora said between gasps, clutching a stitch in his chest he raised his head for more air. It was then he noticed- "What's going? - What's that!"

"I know!" quacked Donald, "We've been running for ages and we've still passed this scenery a thousand times! I swear I saw that rock before!"

"Gawsh..." Goofy looked up as well, still running in his long, awkward stride.

"I know Goofy, there it is again! Right there, see! That same rock!" Donald still waddled furiously along, pointing out a large and vaguely familiar boulder.

"LOOK UP DONALD!" Goofy and Sora yelled simultaneously.

"Huh?" Donald looked up (cue piping sound effect), "OH NO!"

**Meanwhile, precisely 3 miles above and closing...**

"Easy...EASY!" A dark figure struggled to man the two ropes and the wheel, her ship's gummy sail began to tear loose- the rudder struggling against the high-pressure dark matter, "Keep it together, girl! You've been through worse than this!"

The S.S. Arpeggialis obviously hadn't...the sail tore and automatically furled and the ropes flung from the figure's wrists- the wheel spun from her control and the ship leaned to the starboard side- preparing for an uncomfortable landing.

"Sea spirits- guide me well!" the figure uttered before strapping herself to the mast.

**CRASH!**

On the positive side...Pluto finally stopped and dropped the letter. Right in front of his nose laid the smoking remains of-

"A boat?" Sora tripped over Donald- who tripped over Goofy- who tripped over Pluto- who fell into the small, one-sail boat.

"Ohh...- WHAT THE-! A HEARTLESS! HAVE AT YOU!" A slap came from inside the boat and Pluto rocketed out and landed on Donald (cue head-orbiting stars and birds). The dark figure cut her ropes and climbed to the masthead. "HA-HA! FLEEING, HM? BUT I IN CLOSE PURSUIT YOU- you...dog?" The figure leapt through the smoke, revealing a deeply-tanned girl with a long red scarf in her black hair.

"Who are you?" groaned Sora, pushing Pluto off Donald.

"Who am I?" the girl tilted her head; "You pounce into my ship and frighten me half to death! I think you should make the first introduction- wait! You might be a heartless!"

The girl took a menacing step towards Sora- Goofy rose his shield but she flicked it away with her lacy-gloved hand- Sora tried to shuffle back but the girl skipped forward and wrapped her lacy hand around his collar.

"What are you-?" he never finished. Sora looked into the girls, black-rimmed, amber eyes and found himself in a trance. Donald, typically, remained half-comatose. The girl put her ear to Sora's chest and hummed a single...flawless...note-

-Sora broke out of his trance and clutched his chest. A golden glow shone through his fingertips! As it did with Donald and Goofy- and far across the other worlds, dozens of others, familiar to Sora, clutched their chests as well, feeling each other's presence, their friends' hearts! Even someone very special to Sora...

The humming stopped...and the glow faded. Satisfied and somewhat shocked, the girl stood, "Definitely. Not. A. Heartless. Your friendship with others...it's a rare thing to find a heart such as yours and theirs," she offered her hand to Sora.

"What-? What was that? It's like I felt...everyone..." Sora took the hand and lifted himself up, pulling Donald and Goofy up as well.

"You did," the girl said simply, "their hearts, anyway,"

"Gawsh, so that there glow was all of our friend's hearts?" Goofy shook Donald awake, "Donald!"

"What! Oh..." Donald fell limp, "I had the most wonderful dream...Daisy..."

"You see," the girl began, "my name is Deita, and I'm half siren-"

"Siren? That purty hummin' sounded nuthin' like a siren," said Goofy.

Deita laughed, "No, not that type of siren. Anyway, when I play music- singing especially- it reacts with people's hearts, no offence but your dog-" she gestured to the cowering Pluto, "took me by surprise a bit. I had to make sure you weren't heartless,"

"What would've happened if we were?" asked Sora, nervously.

"Then you would've all turned into floating spheres of light and have zoomed off," she waved her hand away, "to find your hearts. Oh by the way," she handed Goofy his shield, "sorry about that..."

"Aw shucks, that's all right. I'm Goofy and that there is Pluto," Pluto hid behind Goofy's legs, "Aw, come on Pluto, Deita said she was sorry,"

"Wait a moment," Deita reached into her skirt pocket and pulled out a few biscuits, "here you are," she tossed them to Pluto, who sniffed them suspiciously, ate the first, and then became her canine soul mate in a shower of saliva.  
"O-o-o-kay, that's enough!"

"Donald Duck," Donald shook hands, well...wings, with Deita.

"And I'm Sora-"

"The key-bearer. Part of the trio of heroes out to restore light and connection to the worlds!" She shrugged off their stares, "Word travels quickly in Traverse Town, that is before my ship crashed of course...It's an honour to meet all of you."

"That's a ship?" Donald blurted- then covered his bill.

"Used to be, made it myself- uh...what is that?" she pointed to the letter next to Pluto.

Suddenly Deita's curiosity was interrupted. A black panther had stolen across the green hills flanking the path; dark and vigilant eyes noticed the group rather quickly and the panther made towards them instead of its present direction. It pounced and was soon only meters from the group.

The panther snarled at the people before him who looked more curious than afraid. It flexed its claws and was ready to pounce forward just as the boy before him spoke;

"What do you reckon, some new kinda' heartless? Well, let me show you how I take care of them..." The boy told the girl standing opposite him. He brought his hand down to his waist quickly and a keyblade appeared in his open hand. As soon as it materialised he ran forward towards the panther, blade over his shoulder ready to attack.

As soon as Tobias had seen the keyblade he knew, knew that the only person able to wield it was Sora. The boy he had heard about when he had journeyed to other worlds, the boy who fought the heartless. But in this place too? Walking down an endless road, was this coincidence or fate?

The panther leapt to the side of Sora and raised its front paws, as if surrendering. He showed this by retracting his claws and lowering his paws to the ground. The first thing to change was the eyes; a deep blue rose out of the black mist that had veiled the pupils. His knees reversed with a sickening crunch; however he appeared in no pain what-so-ever. Green cargo pants seemed to transpire from his black fur, as well as a brown t-shirt and leather jacket. A large sheath appeared as having been strapped to the panther's leg, as well as a sai at the base of each. His skin hidden by clothing and black fur returned to human form and the black hair started to melt into his skin, except for the top of the head: where he had kept the dark hair but it had grown and turned into human hair. He looked human now as the last changes took place.

He stood up looking at the group of strangers, as they stared back wide-eyed and gasping.

"What! You've never seen a shape shifter before?" He asked them, as they stared back with an obviously 'no'.

"A... a shape-shifter? Wait a second! What are you doing here! How did you get here!" The keybearer interrogated.

"Yes, a shape-shifter, and pyrokinetic or pyropath depending on which term you prefer. And what am I doing here? Looking for answers, just as I suspect you are. As for how I got here, well even I can't answer that. I had been on a different world; I think it was called Hollow Bastion. Anyway there was lots of Heartless and I was trying to defeat them, I trapped myself in a room that the heartless couldn't penetrate, but something happened...All I remember is a bright light and I closed my eyes, then I don't know how many days later woke up in this new land. Where I found you. Maybe we were meant to meet keybearer. I'm Tobias." He stepped forward as he finished and offered his hand to Sora.


	2. Getting Acquainted

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Getting acquainted.**_

Deita stood by the side, watching without her eyes. This newcomer, this...'Tobias'...true, she was with the wielder of the keyblade, two dogs and a duck...but this one seemed a little suspicious.

It was not until Tobias mentioned a bright light did she step forward;

"Soft! You were caught in a flash as well? That's precisely what caused my loss of navigation! My ship is usually very capable-"

**BOOM!**  
A well timed explosion came from the dying engine...

"I...see..." murmured Tobias.

"Uh, guys? Maybe we should-" Donald raised a feather.

Deita wasn't listening, she spun around at the sarcastic remark and stepped past Donald to Tobias, "Strange, you were far more polite as a panther," she said bitterly.

"Oh really?" the black mist began to form in Tobias's eyes again, his teeth sharpening into a smile, "I'd be happy to comply," He raised his eyebrows; daring her.

"Guys- the letter?" Donald waddled over, his brow furrowed.

"Prepare yourself, pussycat!" _You can change your body_, she thought, _but the eyes always remain unguarded_. Deita rose to the balls of her feet as if in a dance, brushing the hair from her eyes, trying to lock her gaze into Tobias's.

"Guys!" Donald stamped his webbed foot.

Tobias crouched low, flexing his growing claws. They circled then-

"STAWP!" Goofy pushed the two apart. Deita shot a final glare at Tobias, and then turned away.

"GU-" Deita's scarf caught Donald's zipper and he fell to the ground.

Sora sniggered and tried to adopt a serious face, "So...we all arrived here in a flash but-"

"HOW DO WE GET OUTTA THIS PLACE?!" The ignored Donald who turned a deep shade of red tore from Deita's scarf and kicked the nearby boulder- not a good idea..." $#!$!"

"Hey ya know, maybe we aughta check that letter," suggested Goofy. He picked up the letter and broke the Mickey-shaped seal.

**FLASH!**  
The world around them dissolved in brilliance as the party was swept away into a strangely illuminative abyss.

* * *

Tobias was just reverting to human form when the light flooded the group. It was blinding, the light took over and Tobias felt his feet fall from under him, immediately he fell towards... well towards the light.

He heard someone to his left shouting out, it sounded like Sora.

"Everyone try and fall this way! We need to land in the same place!" He shouted from meters below Tobias.

'...try and fall this way!' Not exactly the best way of conveying what was intended, but Tobias understood none-the-less.

He could have somersaulted forward and tried to fall head-first, but falling head-first with no idea where the ground is isn't exactly a comfortable feeling. So Tobias chose the more sensible option; his only other shape-shifting skill: the ability to transform into a red-tailed hawk. As he fell a feather pattern spread across his skin, then 'popped' out as the feathers became 3D, his clothes and weapons melted away and his body began to shrink. His nose hardened, curved and melded with his lips to form a beak, his legs grew thin and smaller as his toes became the sharp talons of a predatory bird. His arms flattened into wings, and all-of-a-sudden his bones became the hollow bones of any creature of the sky. The transformation was complete.

He tucked his wings in and dove towards Sora's voice, the eyes of a hawk that he had taken on soon found the dim shadows of Sora and the others even through the blinding light. He arrived at the same altitude as Sora, Donald, and Goofy; only the girl was left, falling a few meters before Sora and company.

Tobias started to shape shift back to human but whilst the changes took place he used the telepathic skill that came with shape-shifting; thought-speech. The ability to, whilst in an animal form only, communicate with others by thinking what one needs to say; the advantage being that you can communicate without a mouth, voice box, or vocal chords and the fact that you can direct the thought-speech to specific people; very helpful in battle so that your enemy doesn't hear your next move. Tobias used this thought-speech ability to tell Sora, Donald and Goofy to dive forward about three meters where the girl was. Soon Tobias was human again and without his thought-speaking ability, in the company of Sora, his sidekicks, and the girl, he fell towards the unknown.

As the group fell Sora told the two new-comers of why he, Donald and Goofy had been in the strange land of an endless path, of how they had closed Kingdom Hearts and were now trying to find the King, Riku and eventually Kairi. He explained how they had chased Pluto with the letter up until the moment Deita arrived, here Deita briefly explained her first appearance and acquaintance with Sora and the others. Tobias also took the time to explain how he had contacted Sora whilst in the form of a bird.

Eventually the light dimmed a little but remained constant and present still, Tobias and the others were silent and in a state of when faith and fear collide; they believed that the abyss of light was King Mickey's doing but failed to see when it would end, where it was taking them, and whether they were in safe hands. Deita opened her mouth to suggest Tobias shape-shift to hawk again but suddenly her feet arrived on a platform, she looked down but only saw the abyss, the others too were standing and looking down, they continued to fall but while standing on this invisible platform as if it were an elevator.

"Donald? Goofy? Do you think this is the King's doing?" Sora asked, but Goofy and Donald got no time for a reply.

"Yes Sora. Well it seems the introductions have been made and the journey has partially begun." Transpired a voice from the light.

"THE KING!" Donald and Goofy shouted in sync. They frantically began edging around the platform looking for the source of the voice, but to no avail, only being surrounded by light.

"Donald, Goofy, I'm afraid you won't find my body. I'm so very far away, but I was able to send my voice to you for such brief a moment. Sora, the key-bearer, you have a new journey ahead of you. Though it may seem much like the last one; ridding each world of Heartless, it is different. Alas, the number of footsteps you take will grow old before you learn of the difference, a difference so subtle yet so very important. Your journey starts after the light Sora, in a new world, but this time you need help Keyblade Master. Not just Donald and Goofy, however fine a job they do, but more. I have brought Deita and Tobias who may seem like strangers now but will grow to be your companions soon enough, this is important - they share skills like no other, and may be unique but have something in common; good hearts. Let Deita and Tobias help you as they will, trust me when I say they will be most worthy companions in the journey to come." Mickey explained as everyone continued looking around anyway.

"Well to tell you the truth I've been wandering all my life, a drifter if you will, looking for purpose; ridding each world of Heartless will be a difficult task and take great skill but I'm up for the challenge; I'm ready to help you Sora and give my life meaning." Tobias told Mickey through thin air and Sora next to him.

"Great skill that you all share; a wise man once said 'United we stand, divided we fall'; you can do this together all you have to do is believe in yourselves and always remember that no matter how deep the darkness a light always shines within." Mickey explained.

"I must leave now, but I will be there to guide you when the going gets tough. And who knows, maybe we might just meet up." Mickey's voice evaporated leaving the companions-to-be looking to each other.

"Well I'm eager to fight, what about you Deita?" Tobias asked Deita, who's name he learnt whilst falling through the light, they all turned to Deita who hadn't said anything yet.

Deita adjusted her scarf and turned away, "So…The disembodied king of two...farm animals...gives his expectations of _myself _accompanying you to go gallivanting after _himself with_ the pussycat whilst ridding every world we happen to pass of the heartless...and you immediately assume my consent?" She turned away walking across the platform surrounded by light. Finally, she paused for the dramatic effect, her back still to the party. "Well, you are fortunate;" she pirouetted and smiled, "I just happen to be on the hunt as well!" She smiled.

Tobias was suspicious and just about to ask Deita why she used the word 'hunt' when suddenly the encircling light dissolved and the unseen platform beneath them smoothed out into the texture of grass and a few cobbled stones. The group looked around but only seemed to be enveloped by nature, a few trees but mostly bushes and shrubbery.

"King Mickey?! Where are we?!" Donald yelled to the trees.

Where indeed?


End file.
